Sewing machine



Jan. 17, 1956 s. R. BELL SEWING MACHINE Filed July 17, 1952 l illi INVENTOR 1DNEY R. BELL ATTORNEYS United States Patent SEWING MACHINE Sidney R. Bell, Stamford, Conn assignor to Irving J. Morit t,Bronk-lyn, .N,.Y.

Application July '17, 1952, Serial No. 299,391

3 Claims. (Cl. 112-437) This invention relates to swing machines, and more particularly to a miniature, lightweight, electrically driven sewing machine.

The primary object of my invention is to generally improve sewing machines, especially small, light-weight sewing machines intended to be readily portable.

Other objects center about the presser foot, and one feature is the provision of adjustment of the position of the presser foot, and also of1 the spring tension exerted thereon.

Many features of the present sewing rnachine are not claimed herein but are claimedtinmy copending application Serial No. 85,191, filed April 2, 1949, or, in divisional or continuation-impart applications th reof. Division of said parent application Serial No. 85,191 was required, and the present application is a continuationin-part of one of the divided portions of said parent application.

To accomplish the foregoinggeneral objects, andother more specific objects which will hereinafter appear, my invention resides in the. sewing machine elements and their relation oneto another as. are-hereinafter more particularly described in the followingspeci fication. The

specification is accompanied by drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sewing machine embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken approximately in the plane-of theline 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation taken at the; end, of the sewing machine arm, looking, in, a, direction opposite to that of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar, to the upper partof Fig. 3, but showing a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view generally similar to Fig. 4 but showing the lifting cam, in down or released position to, make the work feed operative; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken approximately inithe plane of the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawing, the sewing machine is shown in Fig. 1, it comprising anarm 12 overhanginga bed 14. The bed houses work feed and shuttle mechanism covered by a removable plate 16. The stitch length may be controlled by an adjustment indicated at 18. The direction of work feed may be reversed by a control, indicated at 20. A bobbin from the shuttle maybe rewound with thread from spool 24 by means of a shaft end projecting at 26. The machine is electrically driven, connection being made at 28 by means of a suitable plug, not shown, the connection preferably including a suitable speed control rheostat, not shown, arranged to be operated. by either the knee or the foot, as shown in my Patent No. 2,561,556, granted July 24, 1951.

The sewing machine head is preferably arranged to be carried in a small carrying case, not shown in the present drawings, but illustrated and described in my copending application Serial No. 40,917, filed July 27, 1948. The sewing machine is readily portable and very tiny in di- 2,730,979 Pistented Jan. 17, 1956 mension. To increase the Work table area and to steady the machine, as described in said copending application, it is received in amating opening in the case, which opening closely surrounds andcomes flush with the top of the bed 14. To facilitate. release of the. then-surrounded needle plate 16, a pushbut'ton 32 is provided.

For the most part the sewing machine details are not described herein, being described in my aforesaid copending application Serial No. 85,191. The description there includes the main drive, and the work feed mechanism. As to the, latter, it may. be sufficient for the pres ent purposes to point out thatit: comprises a vertical feed plate disposed in the bed 14 of the machine, and that it has a serrated, upper edge shown at 92 in Fig. 2. This plate is slidably held by appropriate guide wallsin the bed of the machine, which serve to hold the plate in erect. position while affording the horizontal and vertical movemerit.

The description in my copending application Serial No. 85,191 also details the stitch length control mechanism centering about the adjustment 18; the reverse feed mech anism centering about the control. knob 20, the shuttle, shuttle carrier, and drive mechanism, and the relation between the shuttle and the needle 80, which needle is secured to a vertically rcciprocable needle bar 66 by means of a thumbscrew 82. It also details the thread tension mechanism centering about the parts 224 and 23%; the bobbin Wind mechanism utilizing the upper end of the motor shaft shown at 26; and the lamp and other miscellaneous details of the sewing machine.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, a presser foot 190 cooperates withv the serrated edge of the feed plate. The presser foot 190 is pivoted on a bracket 194 detachably secured to rod 196 by means of a thumbscrew 1.98. The rod 196 is held against rotation by means of a pin 200 slidable in slots 202. The rod 196 is urged downwardly by a compression spring 204, the tension of: which may be adjusted bymeans of a threaded bushing 206. This is knurled at 208 to facilitate rotation and adjustment of the spring pressure.

The pin 200 is. prolonged for cooperation with a control handle 210. Thethandle is pivoted at 212 and may be swung to any of three positions. The position shown in. Figs. 2 and 3 is the normal sewing position, in which the presser foot may descend to lowermost position, and in the absence of fabric bears directly against the feed plate. This is shown in Fig. 3 by the fiat 214 located at. the lowerend of slot 202 and, well below the position of pin 2430.

However, by turning the handle 210 from the solid line position to the broken line position 210', the flat 216 is brought into operation, and this, raises the pin 20b slightly, thus providing a small space between the presser foot and the feed plate, suitable for darning. By swinging the handle 2l0 in the opposite direction to the position 210", the flat 2l;8'is brought into operation, thereby raisingthe pin 200 to the elevated position Zllll, which releases the work entirely.

A modified form of the presser foot mechanism is shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawing. It is improved in several respects. One istthatthe angle of the presser foot may be adjusted slightly to one side or the other,

in order to best locate the presser foot aperture 350 (Fig. 6) in respect to the needle (Figs. 1 and 2). Another is the provision of a hardened steel wear plate 362 to guide the cam follower pin 300. This is preferable to slots formed directly in the cast head as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, for the cast metal is preferably a light metal such as aluminum, which may tend to wear and thus permit slight changes in the orientation of the presser foot about the axis of the bar 196 carrying the same.

366 on the side of the cast head 312.

The plate is secured in position by an upper screw 368 A and a lower screw 370. The holes through the plate are slots extending in horizontal direction, so that the plate may be shifted slightly to one side or the other by first loosening the screws 368 and 370. It is evident that this will slightly rotate the rod 296 and thus shift the orientation of the presserfoot 290. This moves the location of the needle hole (350 in Fig. 6) to the left or right when viewed as in Fig. 1, until it is apropriately aligned with the position of the needle 80.

The upper screw 368 (Figs. 4 and 5 acts as a simple screw bearing directly against the steel wear plate. However, the lower screw 370 acts also as a bearing for the lift lever 310. For this purpose the screw 376 is a stepped or shouldered screw, as is best shown in Fig. 6,

. so that when tightened the shoulder thereon will bear against and lock the steel wear plate against movement, without however binding the lift lever against movement,

, the latter turning freely on the intermediate stepped or shouldered portion of the screw 270.

The modified lift lever is generally like that shown in Fig. 3 in having three main cam parts. The part 314 is at minimum radius and permits the presser foot in rest directly on the serrations 92 of the feed dog. The part M6 is at intermediate radius and raises the feed dog slightly. The lever 310'is turned in clockwise direction to use the part 316. The part 318 is at maximum radius and fully raises the presser foot. The lift lever is turned in counter-clockwise direction to make use of the part 318, as shown in Fig. 4.

The lever is an angle lever provided with an extra handle 372. This is convenient when changing the presser foot from raised to lowered position to begin sewing, for in raised position the main handle 310 is upright and located behind the machine, when viewed as in Fig. 1, but the extra handle 372 projects horizontally, as shown in Fig. 4, and is easily pushed downward, following which the lever falls the rest of the way to the position shown in. Fig. 5.

Moreover, in the position of Fig. 4 the arm 372 is so weighted as to keep the angle lever at an angle such that the arm 310 is disposed out of the way of standard attachments such as a buttonholer or a zigzag attachment. in practice the part 310 is somewhat more to the right than is shown in Fig. 5.

It is believed that the construction, operation, and method of use, as well as the advantages of my improved presser foot arrangement, will be apparent from the fore-' going detailed description. It will also be apparent that while I have shown and described the invention in several forms, changes may be made in the structures disclosed without departing from the scope of the invention, as sought to be defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a sewing machine, a sewing machine arm, a needle bar and needle, a presser foot having a part located adjacent the path of said needle, a round rod borne in said arm and carrying the presser foot, resilient means urging the presser foot downwardly, apin projecting side- 4. wardly from the rod, said arm having an opening to receive said pin, said foot and rod and pin all being in fixed relative orientation, a Wear platesecured outside the arm and provided with a vertical slot dimensioned to slidably receive the pin to prevent rotation of the rod and presser foot, and releasable screws securing said plate to said arm, said plate having horizontal slots receiving said screws to afford sideward adjustment of the plate and consequent adjustment of the orientation of the presser foot relative to the needle, and said opening in said arm being wider than said slot in said plate in order to accommodate said sideward adjustment.

2. In a sewing machine, a sewing machine arm, a needle bar and needle, a presser foot having a part located adjacentthe path of said needle, a round rod borne in said arm and carrying the presser foot, resilient means urging the presser foot downwardly, a pin projecting sidewardly from the rod, said arm having an opening to receive said pin, said foot and rod and pin all being in fixed relative orientation, a wear plate secured outside the arm and provided with a vertical slot dimensioned.

to slidably receive the pin to prevent rotation of the rod and presser foot, one end of said pin being prolonged beyond the slot to act as a cam follower, a rotatable cam mounted on said sewing machine and bearing against said pin to raise or lower the presser foot, a finger piece for turning the cam, and releasable screws securing said plate to said arm, said plate having horizontal slots at said screws to afford sideward adjustment of the plate urging the presser foot downwardly, a pin projecting sidewardly from the rod, said arm having an opening'to receive said pin, said foot and rod and pin all being in fixed relative orientation, a wear plate secured outside the arm and provided with a vertical slot dimensioned to slidably receive the pin toprevent rotation of the rod and presser foot, one end of said pin being prolonged beyond the slot to act as a cam follower, a rotatable cam bearing against said pin to raise or lower the presser foot, a finger piece for turning the cam, and releasable screws securing said plate to said arm, said plate having horizontal slots at said screws to afiord sideward adjustment of the plate and consequent adjustment of the orientation of the presser foot relative to the needle, and said opening in said arm being wider than said slot in said plate in order to accommodate said sideward adjustment, one of said screws acting also as a pivot for said cam and finger piece, said latter screw being shouldered so that it may be tightened against the plate without locking the cam and finger piece against free rotation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 286,662 Wendell Oct. 16, 1883 902,180 Stevens Oct. 27, 1908 2,139,426 Toskey et al.. Dec. 6, 1938 2,558,010 Sparney June 26, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 22,749 Germany Sept. 1, 1882 

